Boeheim not surprised by upsets in the NCAA Tournament

Dennis Nett/The Post-StandardSyracuse head coach Jim Boeheim answers questions in the postgame interviews after the Orange's win over Gonzaga in the second round of the NCAA Tournament in Buffalo.

Buffalo — Northern Iowa, St. Mary’s and Cornell are in the Sweet 16.

Kansas, Villanova and Georgetown have gone home.

The first weekend of the NCAA Tournament brought a number of upsets, but Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim said that shouldn’t be a surprise.

“The problem with college basketball is there’s not a big gap,” Boeheim said. “Everybody wants to make it seem like it’s a big gap. It’s not a big gap. If you don’t play well, whoever it is you’re playing can beat you. I mean, it’s as simple as that.”

“I know Villanova is a good team,” said Boeheim. “I watched the whole game. St. Mary’s really played unbelievably well. You look at basketball games, if you watch the games, which unfortunately people don’t do, they just say St. Mary’s won the game. Shouldn’t win this game. They have a great big guy. A great big guy. They’ve got great guards. They’ve got great forwards. They have a great coach. If you watch the games, that was not an upset. They’re a better team.

“This is different from football,” Boeheim continued. “We find out in this tournament who the best teams really are. There’s no doubt in my mind that yesterday Northern Iowa was better than Kansas. Kansas, really — Northern Iowa made four or five bad turnovers at the end of the game or it would have been a 10-point game.

“St. Mary’s outplayed Villanova. It’s as simple as that. These are good teams. If you don’t play really well, you’re going to get beat. Simple as that.”